Counterfeiting is Big Business.
The numbers are staggering:
$1.7 billion—Value of seized counterfeit goods at U.S. borders in fiscal 2013. See, e.g., http://www.iacc.org/resources/about/what-is-counterfeiting.
$1.77 Trillion—Projected Value of Global Trade in Counterfeit and Pirated Goods in 2015. See, e.g., http://www.iacc.org/resources/about/statistics.
Counterfeit goods span multiple industries including everything from consumer goods, apparel, accessories, music, pharmaceuticals, cigarettes, to automobile and manufactured parts, toys and electronics.
One promising technology for automated counterfeit detection is steganographic encoding (or embedding). One form of steganographic encoding includes digital watermarking. Digital watermarking is a process for modifying physical or electronic media to embed a machine-readable code (or “auxiliary data”) into the media. The media may be modified such that the embedded code is obscured, yet may be detected through an automated detection process. Most commonly, digital watermarking is applied to electronic or physical objects such as images, audio signals, and video signals. However, it may also be applied to other types of objects, including, e.g., product packaging, electronics such as circuit boards and CPUs, stickers, logos, product hang tags, line-art, software, multi-dimensional graphics models, and surface textures of such objects.
Auxiliary data embedding systems typically have two components: an encoder (or embedder) that embeds the auxiliary signal in a host image or object, and a decoder (or detector) that detects and reads the embedded auxiliary signal from the host image or object. The encoder embeds the auxiliary signal by altering an image or object or generating a signal carrying the auxiliary data. The detection component analyzes a suspect image, object or signal to detect whether an auxiliary signal is present, and if so, extracts or reads information carried in it.
Several particular digital watermarking and related auxiliary data embedding techniques have been developed. The reader is presumed to be familiar with the literature in this field. Particular techniques for embedding and detecting imperceptible digital watermarks are detailed in the assignee's patent documents including U.S. Pat. No. 6,590,996; US Published Patent Application Nos. 20140052555 and 20150156369; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/725,399, filed May 29, 2015 (issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,635,378), Ser. No. 14/724,729, filed May 28, 2015 (published as 20160217547; issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,747,656), Ser. No. 15/073,483, filed Mar. 17, 2016 (issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,754,341); and International Application No. PCT/US2015/44904, filed Aug. 12, 2015 (published as WO 2016/025631). Each of the patent documents mentioned in this paragraph are hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, including all drawings and any appendices.
This disclosure describes objects, methods, apparatus and systems using embedded auxiliary signals to deter and detect counterfeited goods. Detection can be facilitated with a handheld reading device including a camera equipped smartphone (e.g., iPhone 6 or Samsung Galaxy 6) having an illumination source such as a flash or torch.
One aspect of the disclosure teaches digital watermarking solutions for use with so-called lenticular structures, e.g., lenticular lenses. Multiple, inter-related but different watermark payloads can be printed on the lenticular structure and viewed at differing angles. Such lenticular structures can include or cooperate with an adhesive for application as a sticker or label, or for direct application on a consumer packaged good. The multiple, different watermark payloads can be detected along with watermark signal strength at different viewing angles. A counterfeit without a lenticular structure will not having a varying signal strength associated with different angles, and thus can be recognized as fraudulent.
Another aspect of the disclosure teaches digital watermarking solutions using metallic inks. The metallic ink carries a digital watermark signal which can be obscured, in part, by a cooperating metameric (but non-metallic) spot color. The metallic and cooperating spot color will appear flat or the same (e.g., not show watermark modulations) unless illuminated by torch or detected by movement. Scanning and re-printing a metallic-ink-watermarked object will not include the same metallic ink in a reproduction, allowing for rapid and automated detection of the counterfeit.
Still another aspect of the disclosure teaches a narrow band absorption dye for conveying a digital watermark signal. The narrow band can be selected to cooperate with a mobile device's illumination source. A watermark detector can read the digital watermark signal with and without torch illumination, and the difference in watermark strength can be used to determine if an object is an original or counterfeit.
Yet another aspect teaches metameric ink pairs selected from, e.g., PANTONE inks, that change their color properties as seen by a camera and cooperating watermark detector under differing illumination. A digital watermark signal may be detected under one lighting condition and then reverse its signal polarity under a differing lighting condition. The differing signal polarities can be used to recognize an object as genuine.
Further aspects, features and advantages will become even more apparent with reference to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.